Healthy breakfast

Breakfast, is the first meal of the day, for people following a « normal » nictemeral rhythm (hours of activity during the day and rest at night). It contributes to the daily food balance. It is a complementary meal to the two other main meals, lunch and dinner, and possibly to intermediate snacks (morning and / or afternoon and / or evening). It is therefore important to have a healthy breakfast to start the day efficiently.

Breakfast in France is too glucidic

Indeed, when I carry out dietary investigation with my patients in the clinic, a little less among sportsmen, I very often notice a carbohydrate component too high in quality, sometimes exclusive (example of breakfast « 100% carbohydrate » fruit juice + white bread + jam or honey + sweet coffee) to the detriment of proteins, lipids and fibers. It is very often the case of people who don’t eat « fat » in all forms (meat, cheese, butter, proteolytic fruits …) seeing it as harmful for their health from all angles (cardiovascular, overweight, cholesterol, triglycerides …). Thus, the breakfast with salty taste is very often left for the sweet. There is room for everyone, as shown by some Scandinavian countries (Finland, Sweden, Norway) and northern Europe (Germany, Denmark …).

In theory a healthy breakfast should be complex on a nutritional point of view

When I speak of « nutritional complexity », I refer to all the nutrients, macro and micro, ie proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, fibers, minerals (calcium, magnesium, potassium …) but also vitamins , B, C, D …) without forgetting the water base correlated with the water supply (via hot drinks such as infusions, chicory, coffee, tea, mate … or simply water). Breakfast is a real meal allowing to dose well the phenomena of appetence and satiety during the day. The regulation of the other meals is improved by the phenomenon of inertia, the ingestas in quantity and quality are optimized (less hyperphagia, earlier satiety, cravings extraprandiales (between meals) are repelled and snacking become exceptional or absent.

A healthy breakfast should be very easy to prepare

Whether you are in a hurry or you have time in front of you, the healthy breakfast is uncomplicated and requires very few culinary techniques to prepare. A little creativity, associations of ideas and its done . It’s just an association of simple foods requiring little cooking preparation. Then, the compositions vary according to the « tastes and colors of each one ».
This list is not exhaustive but can give ideas:

• Hot drinks (water): tea, coffee, mate, chicory, …
• Vegetable juice (protein + carbohydrates): soy, hazelnut, almond, oats, quinoa …
• Animal milk (proteins and carbohydrates): cow, sheep, goat …
• Fats (lipids): butter, vegetable oils: olive, rapeseed, sesame, hazelnut, avocado, …
• Cereals and / or cereal products +/- complete (carbohydrates, proteins, fibers): oatmeal, bread (cereals, bis, whole, …), cake, cereal cream … tapioca, quinoa, rice …
• Sweet products (carbohydrates): honey, fruit syrup, agave, maple …, whole sugar, rapadura … jam, marmelade …
• Fresh and / or dried fruit (carbohydrates, fiber): orange, kiwi, banana, peach …
• Protein (proteins, lipids, +/- fibers): walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, pistachios, sesame, chia, hemp … and their associated purées
• Vegetables (fiber, +/- carbohydrates): spinach, cucumber, zucchini, beetroot … and their associated juices … potato …
• Meat, fish, egg, shellfish (protein): cooked or raw ham, chicken, turkey …, herring, sardines, tuna, salmon … shrimps …

Examples of well healthy breakfasts

Healthy breakfast n° 1

• Coffee
• Goat cheese + chia seeds
• Wholemeal bread + Butter + Honey
• White Ham
• Kiwi

Heathly breakfast n°2

• Green tea
• Hazelnut juice + Carob powder + Agave syrup
• Bread + Almond puree
• Egg shell
• Smoothie Apple / Spinach / Cumin

Heathly breakfast n°3

• Mate
• Almond juice + Oat flakes + Goji Berries + Hazelnuts
• Salmon marinated in lemon juice
• Citrus fruit salad

Heathly breakfast n°4

• Chicory
• Spelled bread + Black sesame purée
• Cheese + Jam
• Banana

Note: Quantities are not indicated because this can vary greatly from one person to another depending on one’s own needs. In all cases, individual food must be individualized.

As a conclusion for a good heathly breakfast

There is no single, standard model for a healthy breakfast. Nothing is perfect, the foods are complementary and have their own nutritional qualities. Denigrating one food to incense another remains the worst way to unbalance its contributions day after day. This is the case for many eviction diets and other « wacky » diets created to make people « believe » ( people lacking the ability to have a real understanding about one diet ) that they “belong”. Breakfast should remain simple, friendly, organoleptic, digestible and pleasant, the best guarantee in time. There are no miraculous diets in the end …

Nicolas AUBINEAU
Sports Dietitian Nutritionist